2017 CotA ... I want to go!

[Charlie98]

You know how long it takes to upload photos on Photobucket...?   

Nice weekend... weather cooperated for the most part, except for the wind, which hardly let up.

Ducati Island was a lot of fun... my first time walking amongst a sea of them, interesting for sure.  Still, never saw a 906 Paso...   

Ducati Owner's Lounge:  Free espresso!  What's not to like?  ...although a little free Peroni would have been nice.

Racing was good... it's amazing watching these guys work the corners and such.  At Turn 12, we were catching them coming WFO down the back straight... then throwing on the binders and into the turn.

Wish the Ducati riders had done better... they never really posed a challenge and the real race was for 1-2, and 3-4-5.  It looked like Lorenzo was just tooling along on a Sunday drive, fading to I think 9th by the finish.  Dovi looked like he was trying, but once Honda pulled out front, he never got a glimpse.

Ducati rider's lap was fun... except for that pesky 60mph limit.  We got to spin the track twice!

Overall... the only thing I'm disappointed with was the bleacher seats included with the Duc package; not that the area wasn't a good spot, it's just those unforgiving benches.  CotA needs to pull their head out, too... I never saw one 'hydration station' set up the entire weekend, so you were stuck buying $4 water or refilling at the one water fountain at the Turn 15 bathroom. 

Pics to follow....

[Charlie98]

Duc parking...





View from the Lounge...



...and one of the 3,274 cups of espresso I drank...



I thought this was some free swag and tried to fit it in my goodie bag...  they said it was the last one and couldn't give it away. 




Waiting in line for the laps around the track...

[Charlie98]

Our vantage from Turn 12 bleachers...

I think this was Moto2 qualifier...



...and I think Moto2 race, lap 1 going into 12...  The sound is sort of jacked up because the video helo flys right over about the time the riders are at full wail, and then there are the people.



Couple of shots from practice...  the rider closest to me overshot the turn, as quite a few did... thankfully there is a nice overrun area past T12.

[Raux]

Dang. Not a mention about hanging out with Raux

[Charlie98]

Dang. Not a mention about hanging out with Raux

They would think I was name-dropping... 

And me being my typical blockhead self... I never got a group photo.     Should have asked that girl at the table next to us at the bar on 6th St to take one for us...   

[Raux]

She would of thought we were mooching

[Mhanis]

Is turn 12 the actual designated "Ducati" spot? We have always sat in the turn 15 area and those are actual SEATS with backs! Highly recommended.

Did staying in Elgin work OK for you? Did you eat BBQ there?

Damn, getting info from you is like pulling teeth!!  And where is a pic of you a Raux? 

Mark

[Charlie98]

Is turn 12 the actual designated "Ducati" spot? We have always sat in the turn 15 area and those are actual SEATS with backs! Highly recommended.

Did staying in Elgin work OK for you? Did you eat BBQ there?

Damn, getting info from you is like pulling teeth!!  And where is a pic of you a Raux? 

Mark

The DI tickets were for the T12 bleachers... not the T15 seats.  We actually sat there Friday, thinking that's where we were supposed to be, but the seating police busted on us Saturday... even though there was only about 20% of the seats taken.  The T12 bleachers wasn't a bad seat, per se, just not as comfy as those chairs across the way.

Elgin was... OK.  We had some issues the first night with noise at 1AM... and, no, it wasn't what you think.  It was kids jumping on the bed.  Wasn't really impressed with any of the dining options (all 5 of them...) available to us, but I've done worse.  Probably find somewhere a bit closer next time... maybe Bastrop or something.  I did like coming in from the east, it worked very well.

When I was younger I used to take pictures of everything... I always had a camera with me.  Nowadays, I never really think of it, and I'm not much of a selfie person.

[Raux]

Last time I went to the race we stayed in Bastrop. I liked that better. But both are better options than dealing with the traffic coming from the west.